LONG-TERM EVOLUTION OF EXCITOTOXIC CORTICAL DYSGENESIS INDUCED IN THEDEVELOPING RAT-BRAIN

Cortical dysplasias are frequently caused by excitotoxic brain damage due to hypoxia or ischemia during development. Ibotenate, a glutamater gic agonist, was injected in the neopallium of rat pups at day of birt h. The resulting cytoarchitectonic pattern includes neuronal depopulat ion in deep cortical layers, sulcus formation, and molecular ectopias, mimicking human polymicrogyria and disorders of neuronal migration. T hese cortical dysplasias persist until adulthood, providing a rat mode l to investigate the long-term functional consequences of cortical mal formations. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.